Broken Words
by Just-Skye
Summary: When all your life, you've been part of a long, continuous string of lies, how can you help but think words are worthless, broken things? Akari comes to terms with all the lies.
1. An Unusual Errand

I don't own Naruto, or any of it's characters. Only Akari and Karina.

okay, I guess I've gotta explain this. I'm trying this plot out for a litle while, to see how much you guys like the plot and story. I'm not entirely sure where I'm gonna go with this, I'm writing because I'm inspired right now, and love the show. I've had this specific plot for a while, but never got around to writing it. If anyone would like to submit a fan-character, that would be much appreciated. Also reveiw if you can. I would really like to know what you guys think of my story.

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Akari grabbed her books from the counter and looked around. Nothing seemed to be missing. Her father had already gone to some meeting, and if she didn't leave soon, she'd be late to school. She went to the ninja academy, and would soon be placed into a squad.

Out of the blue there was a knock on the door. Running to the door, she took one last look in the mirror. He features were plain. Her grey hair was sholder length, and was, as usual, in a ponytail. If it wasn't, it would be very fluffy looking, and slightly curly. Her blue eyes stood out from her face, and the ribbon holding her hair complemented her eyes. Akari's black T-shirt was covered by an unzipped thin grey coat; and hung loosely over her baggy black pants.

She gently turned the knob and opened the front door. Standing there was her friend Karina.

"Are you ready to go?" her friend asked, a smile complementing her blond hair and green eyes.

"Sure! I've got my books for a bit of last minute studying for the quizzes today." She said, holding up her books for her friend to see.

"You didn't study either, huh?" Karina asked, starting to walk.

"Nope." She said, giving an awkward smile. "Which is really weird, because I half expected my dad to force me to study."

"I just didn't, as usual. I do alright on quizzes, even if I don't study."

After several minutes of senseless chatting while they walked, they reached the academy, and went their separate ways. Akari went into Iruka Sensei's classroom, where the other students were chatting. She sat down, away from the rest of the group. She usually didn't join the other students in their conversation, and today would be no different. Besides, she had to study. At least this would be one of the last few times she would have to endure exam week, but this time she did. This would be one of the determining factors for which squad she would be in.

Once she had gone over all she needed to, she went to the hall to get a drink. She had five minutes left before class started, so she could get there and back. Akari got her drink, but was startled as someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"Oh! Good morning Iruka Sensei!" she said after turning around.

"Good morning Akari! Did you finish studying?"

"Yes Sensei."

"That's good to hear. Would you like to do me a favor?"

"Of course I would, Iruka Sensei." She smiled, relaxing her form and putting her hand in her coat pocket.

"All right. Follow me." And he led her back to the classroom. Leading her to the front, he handed her an envelope. "Can you run this letter to the hokage? It's very important."

"Sure, why not? But what about the exam?"

"It won't start for until nine."

"Okay. I'll be back by then." Akari said as she turned to leave.

Upon leaving the building, she tucked the letter into her inner jacket pocket. She had put the pocket in herself, and her careful stitches made it impossible to see from the outside, even with the coat being thin. She tried to remember the shortest route to the hokage's palace, having been sent there many times before.

Once she remembered, she jumped onto a nearby tree branch, and then to the roof of a nearby building. She'd been taught to be athletic and flexible, but she used her excess energy sparingly. Jumping from roof to roof, she wondered what the letter could be about.

Coming to the building, she jumped down from the roof with a graceful landing. She walked the rest of the way, and Akari tightened her forehead protector. Akari walked over to the Junín guarding the entrance. Ever since the village in the sand attacked, they had increased the priority of protecting the hokage.

The new hokage was kind and had a pretty face, but Akari didn't know her too well. They knew each other's names, but not much beyond that. "I've got a letter for the hokage from Iruka sensei. I was told to give it to her." She said, removing it from her pocket. The guard took it, looked it over, then handed it back.

"Alright. You may take it to the hokage." She took the letter and began to walk on.

"By the way," Akari stopped and turned around. "Congratulations, graduate. Last time I saw you, you weren't a genin yet."

She nodded, added a quick 'thank you', and continued on down the hall. After going through a mess of hallways, she finally reached the door she needed. She knocked on the door as she had carefully been taught to do.

"Come in." came the calm voice. Akari quietly opened the door and closed it again quickly.

"Good morning, hokage-sama. I've got a letter for you from Iruka sensei. He said it was important." She stated, walking up to her desk. She held out the letter, which Tsunade kindly took.

"Thank you. I was wondering when I wouldreceive this." Tsunade smiled, putting the letter on the desktop. "I see you passed and graduated to genin. Is it everything you thought it would be?"

"So far, yes. The squad placement exam is today."

"They finally decided to use the old thing, did they? Trust me though. It doesn't really decide which team you're on. It's only reference to see which other students your abilities would be most compatible with, and whose knowledge would help the team most. It's about the structure of the team and teamwork. But that doesn't mean you should completely shrug it off, either. It's still important."

"Really?"

"Of course. And it's more like a review than a quiz."

"Did you take it?"

"Yes. It wasn't much fun, but I knew a lot of the answers. I suspect you do too. What time does the quiz begin? If there's enough time, maybe I can help you review."

Akari looked up at the clock mounted on the wall, and realized she had stayed a little too long. She hadn't really worked a conversation into the allowed slot of time. "The test starts at nine, and it's eight forty-eight! I'm gonna be so late!"

"I'll get you back in time. Come on! This way." Tsunade said, leading her out a back door.

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Once again, please review. I am going by trial and error. If you find that you do not like my story or method of writing, plese do not write an abusive review, as I have already had one for my other story, and am deeply hurt by the person's words. I will not give a name for this person, I just ask that you do not make a review like his, as his actually threatened my well-being. No one should make reviews like that. I'm going to wait awhile before I update again.


	2. Only Part of the Truth

Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own the Naruto series. never will.

sorry about the REALLY-REALLY-REEEEEALY late update... kinda fell out of writing _anything_ for a while. I should be back on track soon. I'm also working on a story with myimagination339 , and I should have an entry for that up soon. I'm just trying to survive my honors classes... they all suck. God, do I miss my plain old enriched math class...

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Akari rounded the corner, praying that she wouldn't be stopped once she got in the building.Even with Tsunade leading her back, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was late, and would be in big trouble. No matter if she was excused or not, she always thought she would be in trouble for something. She thought about how she wished she had inherited her father's ability to lie straight faced. _He could lie his way out of anything in heartbeat.. I on the other hand, can't lie very well._ Akari thought with slight anguish. _Too bad for him though, I can always tell when he's lying._

"Alright," Tsunade's voice interupted her thought, "You just get in to your classroom. I need to speak with a few teachers anyway."

"Okay." She replied, stopping only a second to open the door. She ran down the hall, and found that no one was in sight. She slowed down when she reach her own hallway, and stopped outside her classroom long enough to catch her breath. Akari opened the door and looked to the front of the room. Iruka sensei sat at his desk, looked up at her, and nooded his head in a gesture for her to come. She silently made her way to the front, and stopped in front of her teacher's desk.

"You gave Tsunade the letter right?" He wispered, a smile greeting her.

"Yes. I'm sorry I'm late." She replyed, her hands held behind her back.

"It's okay. Here's your test. Go ahead and take your seat." He said, handing her a packet from a stack on his desk. Akari took the papers, nodded, and walked back to her seat.. She noticed her friend Kayko looking at her and smiling from her seat. Her books had been taken from her desk, and she suspected that Kayko had moved them herself. They sat next to each other, and messed with eachother's stuff from time to time.

She sat down next to her friend, who greeted her with a silent smile. She sat the packet down and flipped it open to the first page. From the looks of it, this wouldn't be too hard. It looked mostly like any of the other written tests she had taken that year, but was a lot longer. She gave a sigh of resignation and prepared herself for a long test.

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Akari grabbed her lunch on her way out the door. She had finished on time, like everybdy else, but had turned hers in last minute. She was quick to figure things out, but could only do so well on certain parts, before she had to give up and move on, for the sake of finishing. She sat on the stone edge of the garden and watched the other students talking as they slowly filed out of the building. She heard several students talking about how easy it was, while others complained about it's dificulty.

"Hey! Akari!" She looked up to see Kayko running towards her. She smiled and waved at her childhood friend, motioning for her to come over. "What'cha doin?" She displayed the same welcoming smile, her arms crossed in the boyish attitude she wore so proudly.

"Wanna see what my dad got me as a gift? It's really cool!" Akari asked, a rare cheerfulness coming over her. "Look!" She dug around a large bag until she found what she wanted and gently pulled it out of the bag. In her hands she held a short , slightly curved sword. Kayko watched intently as she drew it out of the ornately decorated sheath, and held it so that the blade was pointed towards her elbow, the stance similar to that used when holding a Kunai in a defensive stance.

"Wow... where in the world did he get that?" She asked, her curiosity mounting at the sight of the engraving on the blade of the sword.

"I have no clue! He gave it to me yesterday, and didn't really tell me anything about it, other than how to hold it! I swear, sometimes I feel like I don't even know the guy!"

"Well, I can help you with that!" Kayko lened forward, her smile genuinely silly. "First off, what color is his bath robe?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"It's a personality thing! Duh! Now answer the question!"

"Um, blue?" Akari mumbled, rubbing the back of her head.

"Then he's a secretively cheerful guy!" she expressed, her hands flying about wildly. "Okay, so that was just something stupidly random. So what's your dad like?"

"Ummm..." Akari stalled, trying to find the right words without giving out too much info. "Well, he's pretty tall... and he never brushes his hair... and he's kind of dull... He doesn't talk much. He's always got his head stuck in some book or other... He looks a lot like me I guess." She gave an anemic smile, her expression slightly pained.

"Hmm." she mumbled, mulling the info over in her head. "How come I've never seen him before? There aren't too many people around here that look like you."

"Well, he's out of town a lot. I hardly see him myself. He almost always leaves before I do in the mornings too... " she said profoundly. That much was true. He thought that it would help if he didn't attract too much attention to her by hanging around the house.

"Maybe you could introduce me to him sometime?" Kayko asked inquired, a soft smile gracing her usually lively face.

"Maybe. I'll have to ask."

"Great! I'll see you later, okay? I'm going to try and sneak in the house without my mom getting all emotional on me." She rolled her eyes, and stood to face her companion. She waved, a rapturious simle crossing fer face, as she bounced off, her hair flowing out behind her.

She got up, grabbed her stuff, and turned down the opposite street. Well, at least she was telling part of the truth. She felt guilty for lying about most of it though. Her dad would have to explain all of this sooner or later. She didn't want to go on telling only part of the truth for the rest of her life.

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	3. Letters From Home

**Broken Words  
Letters From Home**

Disclaimer: I don't Own Naruto, the characters from the series, or the settings. I do however own Akari, the main character. And the wooden pole. The wooden pole is mine.

Well, the update that took _forever_ is finally up. I honestly don't know how I let so much time pass with this story. Luckily though, I seem to have found a surge of power with my creative engine. Maybe it's the immense amount of free time and boredom that's done it. But who cares as long as it's here, right? Update after update! Anyways, Enjoy!

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Akari shouted with frustration as she made another swing at the wooden pole. The short sword made another clean slice in the surface of the wood. She swung around and struck at the target with enough force to make the sword rebound and knock her elbow in just the right place the make her gasp, and drop the blade out of reflex. She cursed as she stumbled back, grasping her aching elbow.

"Stupid thing." Akari mumbled as she glared at the offending pole "I can't believe I can't hit the target with this thing!"

Truth be told, Akari _did_ hit the target, just not dead center, like her perfectionist instinct wanted. She'd been training for at least three hours with the sword, trying to get used to the weight and balance of the blade. She was currently trying to master the blade in her left hand, as she had in her dominant right hand. However, she was always off just slightly from where she wanted to be, and the extra effort was leaving her out of breath.

She fell back onto the grass, exasperated. Looking up at the now darkening sky, Akari waited for her hear to slow as she thought back on her day. It had been fine until she got home, and into her room. It was so typical of her father to do that.

"I'd better get back home. It's almost dark." She breathed as she sat up. She went to the abandoned blade, and returned it to the sheath on the ground next to her pack. Akari walked to the edge of the clearing and into the cool shade of the woods. "Not like anyone would miss me though."

Akari grumbled as she ran between the trees, not enjoying the wind as she usually would. He was leaving again, not bothering to tell her where he was going. The note on her bed just emphasized the distance between them relationship wise. Her father... ugh. sometimes, she hated him.

_"Akari_

_I'll be home soon. Most likely the day after tomorrow..."_

That's where the lies always began. He was never home the day after tomorrow. It was always more like a week later. He'd never kept those kinds of promises. Sometimes it wasn't his fault, but most of the time that wasn't the case. He'd try and make it up by bringing her something exotic from where he'd been, but it wasn't what she really wanted.

_"We're escorting a wounded shinobi back home, and are delivering a scroll on the way there. An easy mission, so don't worry."_

Right. It sounded more like a carefully thought out lie rather than a real mission. Besides, messages that were sent were usually done by lone ninja, rather than a group for the sake of speed and security. Didn't her father trust her? Or at least think she was old enough to not lie to her? And since when had her father had an 'easy' mission? He came back from almost every mission injured! That was reason enough to worry about him. Sometimes Akari felt that she was more mature than her own father.

_"Good luck on your exams. I know you'll do fine. I love you"_

That was questionable in it's own way. How much could her father really love her? He made her go by a fake last name! He'd explained that he'd had too many enemies in the past, and didn't want them to go after her, and the fake was a way of protecting her. Though somehow Akari still felt that he didn't love her. Like the change was a way to avoid assuming responsibility for her, like denying that he was actually her father.

_"Your father,  
Kakashi Hatake"_

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Le GASP! Who would'a known?! I would! Anyways, I hope you like it! Please review and let me know what you think of it so far! ) Constructive advice is appreciated and used to make better stories!!


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